Each of the paintings depicts a local historic bridge during a different season: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.
For a driving tour to visit the site of each of the four bridges follow this link here.
Three of the paintings are on loan courtesy of Sut and Margaret Marshall and one is on loan from Kennett High School. The Summer painting was presented to Kennett High School on July 25, 2015 from the Kennett High School Alumni Association, Class of 1965, as part of their 50th reunion.
The bridges were painted by Conway artist Ernest O. Brown in 1970-71 for the now closed White Mountain National Bank in North Conway.
They were originally displayed on the walls of the branch bank in Conway and later at the main office in North Conway. After the bank changed owners the four paintings were lost until 2015 when Charles Kilgore of Nashua NH acquired the suite from a thrift store and contacted the artist, Ernest O. Brown, as to the provenance and possible restoration of the artworks.
They were cleaned, restored and framed in February - March 2015 at "The Studio of Ernest O. Brown, LLC" in Conway in preparation for an open art show entitled "The Bridges of Conway" presented by the Mount Washington Art Association and displayed at the Conway Public Library April 1-30, 2015 as part of the 250th celebration of the Town of Conway.
For indepth information on each of the bridges, their locations, visit Mount Washington Valley Blog by following this link here. To read the Conway Daily Sun article, check out the PDF file attached below.
We also have another Ernest Brown painting on display at the library. To learn about that follow this link here.
FMI contact us at the Conway Public Library's Henney History Room
